


at the end of the world

by snottygrrl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: omniocular, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-07
Updated: 2006-03-07
Packaged: 2017-10-13 01:26:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snottygrrl/pseuds/snottygrrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>takes place shortly after HBP. Draco finds a place for new beginnings at the end of the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	at the end of the world

**Author's Note:**

> **warnings:** draco-centric  
>  **disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
>  This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.  
>  **author's note:** written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/omniocular/profile)[**omniocular**](http://community.livejournal.com/omniocular/)'s february challenge: _anywhere but here_ , #88 new zealand.  
> many thinks to my speedy and efficient beta's [](http://earth-magic.livejournal.com/profile)[**earth_magic**](http://earth-magic.livejournal.com/), [](http://fungus-files.livejournal.com/profile)[**fungus_files**](http://fungus-files.livejournal.com/) and [](http://phenix-tears.livejournal.com/profile)[**phenix_tears**](http://phenix-tears.livejournal.com/)  
>  Draco is going to [the university of otago](http://www.otago.ac.nz/) in [Dunedin, nz](http://www.dunedinnz.com/tourism/). The plant by his stoop is an [new Zealand flax](http://www.smgrowers.com/gardens/flaxphormtenax.asp)

Draco shivers and huddles closer to the small Muggle contraption trying to stay warm while he reads his Econ 111 textbook. The irony that Professor Snape has sent him to hide out by going to school in this windblown place with the feel of the Scottish Highlands does not escape Draco. It just reaffirms his belief that his old teacher is hiding a wicked sense of humour. The Professor had seemed to take great glee in telling him he would be attending a Muggle university and studying for a Bachelor of Commerce with a focus on international business. At least it might be useful if he ever gets back to the Wizarding world, Draco thinks.

Breathing into his cupped hands in an effort to restore a bit of the feeling in his numb fingers, he longs for a heating spell, but Draco has no doubts that his mother is right and that using his magic is tantamount to suicide. Both the Dark Lord and Potter's order of light currently want him dead and even this remote place will not protect him from either's reach.

Still, it is somewhat surprising to discover how much he misses the manor and how often he wishes for England. Draco marvels at the sameness and the difference of this place. He's in New Zealand, Aotearoa, down in the southern hemisphere, at the end of the world. Or perhaps at the beginning.

Draco is the second Malfoy to travel to this land in the hopes of finding redemption. His great great uncle came here many years ago. The youngest sibling in his family, he had set out to find his place in the world. At first, he had done the Malfoy name proud, becoming an influential businessman and a prominent voice in local politics. The family was pleased, until Uncle Demetrius married a native Maori witch. He was immediately and irrevocably disowned. There's no record of the marriage, nor any word of Uncle Demetrius after that, though the scandal was never forgotten. Once again, Draco finds himself disagreeing with his ancestors and Malfoy tradition. He's finding that this is happening a lot more often these days and wonders why he never saw the contradiction in the rules before now. Blood and birth are important, he knows, but he is beginning to understand that there are other factors that matter just as much.

Magic is thick here, young and wild and pouring from the land. The Maori natives are attuned to it the most strongly, it's as if the power of the earth runs through their veins and with it they're capable of anything. And though it may seem accessible to almost anyone, Draco can feel the rawness of it and is acutely aware that it is not so readily controlled as the ancient magic he's used to. Surely his Uncle Demetrius made a wise match when he married the Maori witch, because anyone with the ability to tame _this_ magic is someone to be reckoned with. Draco is positive that Demetrius would have continued to bring prestige and honour to the family. A question keeps niggling at Draco's mind as to whether he has cousins of a sort here and whether finding them would be his salvation or his undoing. He is unaccountably amused at the thought of finding a third contingent of enemies that would rather see him dead.

Draco rubs his eyes and looks out into the moonlit garden, his gaze coming to rest on the large flax plant -- _Phormium tenax_ \-- by the fence. It's about as far from yew and knotgrass as one can get, but here, in this land, it has been used for everything from baskets, to cloaks, to honey, to healing bayonet wounds. Draco thinks it must serve for a standard potion ingredient as well, though he has found nothing in his searches at the Muggle university library to indicate such. He wonders how it's prepared for potions and what unique properties it holds and wishes he could study _that_ instead.

Sighing, he retrieves his textbook and pulls a blanket around his shoulders for warmth. It's the end of July, for Mordred's sake, and he should be basking at the beach, not fighting off winter's chill. The summer sun is shining on the British Isles, and somehow the opposition of the seasons just makes it seem even farther away. Draco is about to return to his reading when the moon catches his eye. He remembers that, despite the distance between them, it is the same moon that his mother will see in a few hours.

It doesn't heal the ache of homesickness, but it quells it a little and that will have to do.

  
~ fin


End file.
